There's something about the combat that I really enjoyed a lot and forgave the game for all the other mediocrity. I'll be playing this until Diablo 3 comes out. I was in a level 18 area fighting a group of 10 normal mobs and the combat just clicked with me. For the first time I was using my health vamp skill to stay alive. I was weaving in and out. It was a close fight but I survived. It's fights like this one that makes me want to play this game more. I was actually slightly sad the OB ended on Monday because I wanted to play more! The early levels are just too easy and might turn some people off. But if you stick around longer, you can experience a really great combat system.

I agree 100%. I was very surprised how much I liked the Open Beta, the combat is much better than typical MMOs. I will also be playing this until D3 comes out.

TERA may not be a MMO that you play for a year straight, but it's a very fun and polished game.

Anyone else get jumped by a group of thugs, and then find a contract note from someone named Moira? Holy hell these guys slaughtered me over and over again. I finally had to turn the difficulty down to Novice to get by them. I read this is someone in Whiterun that I maybe stole from, but I can't find her. Is this a quest or just some random event?

How does the game perfrom and look on 360 or PS3? Which version is the recommended one to get? I bought it for PC, but for some reason, as I get older, my hand shakes uncontrollably when I am shooting people, so I can barely play. I have only had this problem for a couple of years, but it has killed my enjoyment of FPS games. (I am only 33, so I shouldn't be getting the hand shakes, but I do, even when not playing games) So, I am debating dropping another $60 bucks so I can play it since the shakes don't affect me on console controllers. I just can't aim on consoles after years of FPS playing on PC, so I'll need some practice.

Looks great for a console game, but nowhere near a top of the line PC.

When you say Black Ops lag, you mean people rubberbanding around and shots not hitting what they're supposed to be hitting (beyond what is just the standard discrepancy?)

I don't remember exactly, but I definitely do remember that MP was borked and things were not working 100% right. Joining servers and parties, etc, like you said. And yes I thought even after finally joining a server, sometimes it would still be messed up when firing guns or running around. No, I don't have video proof but I still consider it irrelevant cause the bottom line is MP was messed up at first.

We'll see with MW3 if there are any MP abnormalities the first day or not. I'm guessing yes.

odd, I dont' recall any more lag at launch on the COD's compared to after. There were some connection issues, especially at XMas time where LIVE goes down regularly, but in-game lag isn't determined by the player load. It's just not how the system works. The Matchmaking and stat servers are the only thing that could be impacted by the number of players in a player server model.

I don't know what the technical reasons are, and that's totally irrelevant anyway (why does it matter to the end user?). All I know is that the first couple days of Black Ops MP, there were definitely problems and abnormalities.

Lag is killing this for me. They don't have much time to fix that before they lose droves to MW3

I'm guessing MW3 is going to have server lag first week too.

MW3 doesnt' have dedicated servers, so I'm not even sure what you're saying. MW3 will always have a chance for lag because one of the players is always the server. BF3 has EA/DICE dedicated servers, which is why there is no reason they should be so laggy. Not like they can't afford them. Odds of lag are actually lower during a COD release since with more people playing the odds of it picking a host with higher quality internet is higher. As fewer people keep playing, the pool of decent hosts shrinks and you end up with bad and worse choices to host games.

I'm saying the first few days of a huge bigtime MP game is always going to be laggy. Black Ops certainly was.

Awesome pictures Zinfan, I wish I had the expertise to build a stand like that!

It really isn't that hard to make, I'm not skilled at woodworking and yet I still had all ten fingers after putting this together.

The base of the stand is a 18" square of 3/4" MDF that I had the hardware store cut for me since I didn't think I could cut the half sheet of MDF that I had to buy for the project in to a square.

Attached to the base are two 6" high pieces of 2x6

Attached to the 2X6's are 27" long 1X4" pieces

Attached to the 27" 1X4"'s are 6" long 1X4" pieces

Attached to the 6" 1X4's is the top plate which is a 24" long 1X6

the dowel I put half way up the 27" risers didn't seem to do anything for side to side stability so I deem it unnecessary but it looks ok and make a good place to hand my Xbox headset

some wood screws and the bolts to hold the risers to the top and bottom puts it all together.

I have a hand held router so I used a round over bit to soften the edges of the base and top plate, a straight cut bit and a poorly made template allowed me to fashion a curve for the risers and the pieces that connect the riser to the top plate. All this is unnecessary except to make it look a bit better.

some flat black paint to hide my poor skills, a few stickers to hide some screws and there you go.

As I said I added the wood piece between the two 2X6 pieces attached to the base of MDF because it added quite a bit of stability to the whole unit and I'd recommend anyone doing this project to add it in there as well. Just measure carefully the distance between the 2X6's and cut to fit, screw the new plate to the 2X6's and also from the bottom of the base plate. Count remaining fingers and Job Done!

Bugs can appear on one platform and not on another. Happens every day.

Xbox version - one platform onlyPS3 version - one platform onlyPC version - thousands, if not millions, of variations

I don't know about the ps3 version but the xbox version has numerous bugs, you would think they'd fix them. It's not like they didn't have time.

are they show stopping bugs? if so, I haven't heard about them. most games are patched for bugs after release if they don't make the game unplayable. the pc bugs may be show stoppers.

System freezes, text overwriting text by the hint system, the hint system (for moves like press BBA for something) doesn't stop when you turn off hints in the options, and loss of button function and movement stick but camera control sticks still work are the ones I've heard about.

So you've only "heard about" them or have you experienced any yourself? Cause I've played through the entire game and most of the side quests on the Xbox360 (probably 25+ hours), and I haven't had any bugs at all. The only thing I've seen in your list is the subtitle text, but that's not really a bug.

If I were you I'd be careful of making it sound like this game is buggy for everyone when it's clearly not. The main NeoGAF thread does not have many reports of people thinking the game is buggy.

Anyone else having problems uploading movies from the game? Replays to the Storefront aren't a problem, but when I try to upload a movie it keeps telling me that I already have a movie or big shot there and do I want to overwrite it? I say yes, but after several seconds it comes back and asks me the same question. I have uploaded the "Big Shots" to the website before and downloaded them from there so that doesn't appear to be the issue. I haven't found anything about it on the Forza forums.

The biggest problem with the AI is that they mostly DO follow a pre-programmed line, and if you are either on this line or soon will be, they dont' care. I do like when they take risks or things like that, but being completely oblivious of your actions (and sometimes the actions of the other AI's) kills any sense of realism for me. If you are coming up fast on the inside, they should hold a high line through the turn and you hold the low and both make it through the turn. This never happens. This won't even happen if you are already on their quarter panel, they will just turn in, and you both spin out. It's stupid. People online do the same thing, because they are stupid. Instead of modelling AI that is barely passable for random MP noobs, they should do good AI that can teach random noobs how to respect a line.

Yes, I do agree that the AI is mostly oblivious to what the human driver is doing. Not ideal, but I guess I'm just used to it and don't expect too much... even in today's age, it's really complicated to program multiple racing AI.

I've seen some other people complain in forums that the AI brakes too early and the player always runs into their rear. Well yeah, I learned that in my first couple races. So the obvious answer to me is to not be behind the AI on turns, and then people shouldn't have a problem. You need to be on the sides of the AI, or if you insist on being behind them, you should learn to brake early and be careful in turns. Yes, that may take a player off their ideal line, but that's the game and you just get used to it.

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I'm not surprised you like it though Kepow You love chaos, and noob tubes, and commando. All the crazy over the top stuff I tend to be down on.

Whoa you have a good memory! That's me... I get a kick out of bumper cars, and we've had some awesome hilarious MP races in F3 and F4. Really fun stuff.

And yeah, I can't believe you remember I'm the grenade launcher lover in the Modern Warfares hahha. Don't forget the best perks, One Man Army and Danger Close! I'm not even joking when I say that I have no interest in Black Ops, and unfortunately MW3 from what I've read, because they took those perks out. Also remember dual 1887s and the Javelin suicide bomb? I loved those too... I don't think there will ever be another MP FPS I like more than MW2, it was just perfect.

1.) You cannot set the difficulty of the AI in World Tour, it is dynamic. For someone of your skill level, it's going to be VERY easy until you get to a much higher driver level.2.) In-race music sucks, but I always turn off music while driving in any racing game. The menu music for Forza 4 is awesome though, I leave that on.3.) I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS IN RIVALS MODE!!

Kato: There's a whole section of Drifting races in Rivals, you're usually more observant than that man!

AI thoughts: Personally I like the crazy and unpredictable AI. The most boring type of AI in racing games is when they just follow a computerized line. So I don't mind the fact that F4's AI can be aggressive sometimes or randomly overturn and run off the road, etc.

I've had to give in and turn on assists once I'm up to the "A" and higher classes, even if it is just setting the steering to Normal. And it depends on the car of course. Turns out the Ferrari 365 GTB isn't all that good at going downhilll on Fujimi Kaido trying to dodge slower cars while chasing an opponent. Apparently the only brakes I have come off a bicycle or something .

I love that type of race... the one where you have to beat 1 opponent through constant traffic. Really makes for a fun change of pace in the career mode.

I'm enjoying the game and story so much I think I may go back and give Witcher 1 a retry, see if I can get past what area(s) I got bored with previously. Curious if its going to be hard to get into, given I like the way combat was implemented in 2.

I personally would not do that. Witcher 2 is 100x better than the first game, everything is vastly improved. It would be a serious chore to play through Witcher 1 now.